skansen in stockholm, sweden, 2012

kreuzberg, berlin, 2011

råsunda stadion – the former swedish national football stadium is to be demolished soon. solna, january 2013

i wish you all a happy new year! hope 2012 has been good to you and that 2013 will be even better! 2012 was the year when i finished my studies, got a proper job, left my dear old berlin for a temporary home in stockholm. to new and old friends who made 2012 to the year it was – thank you and hope to see more of you in 2013!

solna, sweden, november 2012

between autumn and winter. the beautiful colors are gone. the snow is not yet here. november is the month of faded beauty, but the blue hour is still magic. (+i wanted to test my new compact camera)

fatima, portugal, july 2010

ålesund, norway, october 2012

atheist shoes pop-up store @ sur hornstull, stockholm, september 2012

some of the most comfortable shoes i own are these ones in blue. head on over to my pal david’s atheist shoes page to see more.

september 2012

i have a thing for old doors, the broken, and the imperfect. i think the small flaws we all have, both cities, houses, and people, are what makes us interesting and beautiful. imperfections give character.

although gamla stan (the old town in stockholm) is overrun by tourists and its main street is filled with souvenir shops and tourist-traps, walking around in the small side streets, sitting down at a cozy cafe under a huge chestnut tree still makes it worth my time. gamla stan still has its soul.

london by night, august 2012

dancing with myself. gødøya, norway. june 2012.

Nouvelle Vague – Dancing With Myself

london, july 2012

ourém, portugal, july 2012

in lisbon i’ll spot doors and windows with cute creatures or clothes hanging outside to dry.

in portugal, they have the best espresso in the world (sorry italy and france, your espresso comes nowhere close to the portuguese).

i’ll meet good friends.

i’ll enjoy the view.

i’ll admire tradition.

i’ll admire something new, but old. lisbon has the most amazing street art. read more about it in my post about cutting edge street art in lisbon for travelettes.

i’ll enjoy clean water. in contrast to the canal here in berlin, there are no dead rats floating around here..

so i wish myself a boa viagem (good trip) to lisbon – i’m coming back tomorrow!

i will go to pasteís de belém. eat at least two pasteís de natas.

i will walk around in alfama and enjoy the view of wonderful and weird decorations.

i’ll enjoy the sunset from adamastor (also known as miradouro santa catarina). this is just a few meters away from my old house in lisbon. just like home.

i will stay in 47.

lisbon, thanks for waiting!

(stay tuned for part two – and my travelettes guide to lisbon should also be available at travelettes.net soon)

the 26th of june i finished my studies. i spent one day in poznan visiting a friend, having a look at the town, and enjoying the first day in a long long time that i didn’t have to study. thanks agnieszka for having me there – it was lovely to see you again and to meet your little family.

(photo from baggersee in innsbruck, summer 2011)

the book consists of 33 exiting, hilarious and action-packed stories by 20 amazing female travelers. the book can be bough in german and austrian book stores, and on amazon. to read more about the book and see some of nina’s cute illustrations, check out smaracuja’s blog post about the book. more photos and a video can be found over at travelettes.net.

For more impressions from the 1st of May, head on over to Smaracuja.

cell phone diary. youth lagoon held an awesome concert in berlin february 29. loved the music and the funfact interludes.

ericeira 1998. my first vacation outside scandinavia. ericeira was paradise to me. i learnt how to order orange juice in portuguese, suco de laranja (my father taught me the brazilian version instead of european portuguese “sumo”). i still got my freshly squeezed juice though. i went bodyboarding for the first time in my life, later i’ve come to prefer a bigger board. but this was the beginning of a love story between portugal and me. a home away from home.

the last few weeks berlin has been freezing, norwegian wool underwear and polar jackets cold. this is from the end of january. today i pulled out my spring jacket, and let my gloves stay at home. let it be spring again!

protest in berlin 11.02.2012. for more photos from the protest, head on over to smaracuja.

Cell phone diary. Frankfurt (Oder).

geraldine is. a second-hand store. a movie location. an apartment. secret. hidden. old and weird. full of tiny treasures. a café. a restaurant. a bar. a record store. different. geraldine is weird and wonderful.

east of the sun and west of the moon. a norwegian folk tale.

i think my younger brother harald was responsible for capturing me in this flattering position.. i miss summer, secret spots for berries, mountains and spending time outside the library. it’s either this, or please give me some christmas spirit!

ps: the diary is currently neglected due to my master thesis.

Taken the 23.07.2011. A dark day driving from Ålesund to Oslo listening to the news about the terror attack the previous day.

this postcard used to hang in my first flat in berlin next to a postcard from my hometown. dear mimi and basti, this one goes out to you – thank you for always making me feel at home in berlin! 4 years pass on so quickly.

more impressions from øyafestivalen in my article for travelettes.

berlin is a mecca for cheap food. falafel, halloumi, kebab, currywurst and hot-dog around the clock.  i’ve never liked hot-dogs, not even as a kid (and especially not since i stopped eating meat). next to bacon and blood sausage it is one of the most disgusting things i can imagine eating. at most birthday parties during primary school, before pizza and taco became popular, hot-dogs was the standard food, and i was always the difficult kid who refused to eat. i’ve never understood the popularity of the hot-dog, and i never will. not even the convincing hot-dog salesman at warschauer strasse can change my mind about this.

the first (rainy) day after i got some plants for my balcony i got new friends. luckily no angry birds.

in oslo i got to see the magnificent james blake live. definitely worth a listen!

hello friends, i’m taking some time off from berlin. i spent the weekend at stranda, my own personal powder snow paradise. next week i’m off to sun (and surf?)

i won’t. but that’s one of the places i wouldn’t mind spending some time during the long cold winter. this weekend spring finally came to berlin though, and i’m looking forward to put away my winter coat and start spending time in the park.

but what this grafitti actually reminded me of was the song “blood red summer” from coheed and cambria and the year 2003. So here you go, this one is for my friends from Langevågen (Norway) and the good old days 

my favorite souvenirs when i go traveling are kitschy or weird postcards, where the persons or cites just appear to be trying a bit too hard to be authentic. since my friends know that i love this type of cards, i’ve received quite a few funny ones from around the world. so say hello to my postcard collection, where every postcard comes with a story – or just with a laugh. and next time you’re traveling, remember to send me a card!

this beauty comes from when i was working at the tourist information in my hometown. although this photography from 1932 apparently is one of the most popular postcards in norway, i first noticed it in 2007. the norwegian name of the postcard is “seterjentens fridag” and every year around 30 000 copies are sold.

just across the polish border, one hour by train from berlin you find słubice. the small city is often visited by germans going there to buy cheap(er) cigarettes and alcohol 24/7, and apparently real and sexi (or sexy) experiences.

my university is located next to the german/polish border, and some of my classes take place on the polish side. my first semester in frankfurt (oder) our passports were checked every time we wanted to cross, but since the opening of the german polish border in december 2007, visiting poland has gotten much easier.

polish/german fishermen in the summer (2008). during the winter they are still there, but since i normally try to rush over the bridge as fast as possible, i never took a winter version of this. whether the weather is good or bad, there are always some fishermen trying their luck on the river oder.

brussels is full of walls with hergé wall paintings, and when i think of beligum the first things that pop into my mind are tintin, belgian waffles (and of course the EU and lack of a proper belgian government). when i was a child i used to love the tintin stories, and i used to watch the cartoon films together with my older brother and my father. oh, and blue lotus was my favorite story.

–adjective

woody allen loves oviedo, and oviedo loves woody allen. a part of woody’s film vicky christina barcelona was filmed in oviedo, and he described the town in these words: “oviedo is a delicious city, exotic, beautiful: it´s as if it didn´t belong to this world, as if it didn´t exist at all… oviedo is a fairy tale.” but since someone stole his glasses, i guess he’s not able to see much..

when that is said. i must agree with mr. allen – oviedo is truly a beautiful place.